


Broken Heart, Broken Mind

by SingingVio



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Chancellor Cole is really just a quick cameo but like, Deaf Character, Deaf Shadow Link, Don't worry he's not that important just a Knight Shadow's friends with, I did a lot of research but if I got something wrong please please PLEASE tell me, I don't know, M/M, Now has an ASK BLOG, Selectively Mute Character, Uhhhhh I'll add tags later when I think of them, anD THERE WAS ONLY O N E B E D, gotta add a tag, haha just kidding, it's just a reference to the trope that's easily dismissed and has nothing to do with the story, selective mutism, still a character so, yeah bet you never saw that one coming did you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27512584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingVio/pseuds/SingingVio
Summary: ((Takes place four years after the events of the Four Swords+ Manga-- Link, Zelda, and Shadow are like 16-ish))After Link returned the Four Sword, his mind was not whole. Green, Red, Blue, and Vio constantly pestered him in his head, and none of them could do anything about it. They didn't tell anyone, either-- until Shadow was resurrected, and noticed exactly what was going on.(NOTE: In case you didn't read the tags, this AU also has a Deaf!Shadow AU in it because I've been waiting to write it for a really long time and really couldn't stop myself. If that isn't your cup of tea, it's fine. If I get something wrong, please tell me so I can change it because I'm trying really hard to write Deaf!Shadow correctly.)
Relationships: Blue Link & Green Link & Red Link & Shadow Link & Vio Link, Link & Shadow Link, Shadow Link & Zelda, Shadow Link/Vio Link
Comments: 12
Kudos: 38





	1. Link Hates Magic and Shadow's Favorite Color is Yellow

**Author's Note:**

> YES, those of you that follow me on Tumblr, I KNOW I said I wasn't posting this anytime soon but I also change my mind a lot and you shouldn't trust any final decisions I make as actually being things I'm going to try doing.
> 
> EDIT: Now has an ask blog for Link and Shadow!
> 
> https://ask-brokenheartbrokenmind.tumblr.com/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo here's the first chapter!!! Shadow and Zelda have a lot of tension, Link and Shadow are Best Bros, Vio's sense of humor is nonexistant but he's trying, there's a Sanders Sides reference in the first conversation with the Links, and that one OC appears during a training montage that took me three days to get right.

It had been four years since Link had put the sword back, three months since the last villain attack in Castle Town, five weeks since he had asked Zelda to resurrect Shadow, six days since they’d managed to get everything prepared, and one hour, thirty seven minutes, and twenty-nine seconds since they had started the ritual to bring him back.

Link couldn’t stand much magic anymore, after that adventure where many of his counterparts had terrible experiences with so many magical things, so he had left as soon as it wouldn’t have been considered rude. He was currently sitting in his room in the castle, curled up on his bed and fighting with himself in his mind.

 _”I really don’t think you should have left!”_ whined Red. Link looked up from where he was curled up under the bedsheets, despite no one being there to see. It was all in his head, simple voices of his friends-pieces-comrades and auras that Link couldn’t see but could feel, if that made sense. Red’s ‘aura’ was warm, like a home fire, and it made Link (and everyone else, though Blue and Vio would never admit it) feel safe.

Link sighed and hung his head again, sitting up and resting his arms on his knees. “I… couldn’t handle that magic, Red! Surely you should understand that, you… you had bad experiences with fire magic!” he mouthed. He was so quiet normally, when he wasn’t barking orders at new recruits for the guard, and no one thought it strange for him to mouth words without actually making a sound. So, he didn’t try to only think what he wanted to say, he just mouthed along instead, and no one questioned it after the first few times.

Red hummed in thought, then laughed a bit nervously as he gave his equivalent of a soft smile to Link. _“I’m not scared of magic anymore, though, and besides, that was my fault anyway!”_ he giggled. _“I’m just saying that maybe you should go back, after you collect yourself, to be there for… our friend, when he comes back!”_

Blue’s presence flared Red’s, his aura like a shield protecting the others, and so bright and colorful with emotion that it was hard to look at sometimes. Blue was clearly angry, emitting dark-cool-angry feelings as he glowered at Red. _“You can’t just dismiss his emotions like that, Red! He’s really upset because of that magic!”_ he yelled. Link winced at the loud noise, but let him continue talking.

Red grew colder at the accusation. _“I’m not dismissing his feelings, I’m acknowledging them and saying that he should push them down so that he doesn’t feel them and go back to see Shadow!”_

 _“That is literally repressing his emotions.”_ Blue said bluntly, his aura shifting to a dull grey feeling of annoyance. Red went silent.

 _“Oh…”_ he muttered, nothing more. Vio looked between the two, along with Green, his eyes closed as he concentrated. His aura was similar to a light, comforting blanket that Link would have previously thought of as something from Red, but it just felt so much like Vio and it was so nice that Link never shared these thoughts out of a quiet fear that Vio’s aura would change if he did. Vio sighed in disappointment as Green flashed his focus between his comrades, his aura cold and calculating despite him usually trying so hard to be warm like the others as he tried to get a hold on the situation as fast as Vio had.

 _“Are you okay, Link?”_ Vio asked quietly, kindly, less cold than when they were physical beings. Not super emotional, either, but they couldn’t all be like Red. Link nodded, and Vio’s aura faded slightly in frustration. _“Tell the truth, Link._ ” he scolded. Link sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I… really don’t want to go back, there’s just so much magic, but I also really want to see Shadow again as soon as possible.” he muttered. Vio flared a bit in surprise.

 _“Shadow…?”_ he muttered. _“I… you care?”_

Link raised an eyebrow, confused. “Of course I do? All of you-- us-- were sad when he disappeared.” Vio faded away as he thought to himself. Link couldn’t ever completely tell what he was thinking, but the auras made it easier, and the blatant confusion radiated off him in waves.

 _“I- I have to go.”_ he whispered, and his aura promptly disappeared into thin air like he’d never been there in the first place. Which, to be fair, he hadn’t. It was all happening in Link’s head. Green sighed sadly and patted Link on the shoulder, or at least, that was the feeling Link got from his aura, as they couldn’t physically touch at all.

 _“I don’t think he realizes how much the rest of you, us, cared about him. He’s still stuck on the idea that only he really cared about Shadow and not just his heroic act, and while the rest of us might not completely agree with his moral compass at all times, we still cared about him.”_ Green explained. Link nodded slowly and turned his attention to where Blue and Red were still bickering.

“I was hoping that Vio could settle this logically, but… he’s gone, and I don’t know what to do.” he mumbled sadly. Green’s aura fell over his shoulders like a weight that didn’t feel bearing, more like a warm hug, as he sighed, looking at his two companions as well as he frowned.

 _“Hey, now, I’m also more logic-oriented. I got all of us to work together because I was the only one to solve that problem using logic, and not running out with my heart on my damn sleeve.”_ he grumbled. Link laughed awkwardly.

“Sorry, I was just saying, Vio’s the ‘smart one,’ right, so he’d come up with a plan?” he asked. Green barked out a laugh at that, chuckling to himself.

 _“Sure, Vio’s the ‘smart one,’ and he can come up with pretty good plans, but he never takes his feelings into account. That’s how the whole thing with Shadow got out of hand, he refused to acknowledge how Shadow felt and instead continued thinking it didn’t matter, which obviously ended badly for him, Shadow, and us.”_ Green explained. _“While he’s great at strategy and statistics, helping people with feelings, emotions? I’m better at things like that. He’s the strategist, works out the details and statistics, while I’m usually the one to join everyone together and, you know, make sure we’re all okay.”_

“Oh…” Link thought for a moment before looking back at him. “What do you think I should do then?”

Green sighed, his aura drifting away from Link a little. _“Well, I think you should use a fairy to tell you the moment Shadow’s back, and then wait outside the door for an answer. Then go in and see him like you’d been there the whole time, despite not being there for the actual process.”_ he suggested. _“Call Miss Fairy. She’ll help.”_

“Okay, I’ll do that… thanks, Green!” Link smiled. He could always relate to Green more than the others, because they were the most alike, but Green was still completely different from him at the same time. He was good with people, for one thing. Green stood up, making the headspace a blinding white momentarily to get Blue and Red’s attention.

 _“Guys, we figured it out, let’s let it be now so Link can do what he needs to do.”_ he called. The two stopped arguing as they all disappeared as one. Link was left alone once again, truly alone despite the room having been void of any other presence the whole time. They didn’t do this often, but they had probably left to take care of Vio. Usually, they would stay silent but still be there, but now, there was nothing.

“MISS FAIRY!” he yelled, his voice straining. He hated how he had to yell to get a faerie's attention, it hurt his mostly-unused voice so much. The glowing pink ball of light appeared in front of him with a flash.

“Link, what is it?” she asked, floating closer to him. Link raised a finger in the air, smiling at her.

“I need you to go to where the resurrection for Shadow is being performed, and come back to me the second that it ends, okay? The second Shadow’s there, I need to be there, but I can’t stand watching magic.” Link explained, making sure to say each word out loud instead of mouthing it. Miss Fairy twirled in the air, spinning around Link a few times before glowing a bit brighter in agreement and disappearing.

Link stood up and walked out of his room, running down the hall to the dungeons being used to perform the ritual. It had needed to be performed in a very dark space with no disturbance, so the dungeons had made perfect sense. The soles of his shoes clicked against the stone floors as he ran to the door of the dungeon, stopping right outside it and leaning against the wall. He sank down to the floor and hugged his knees to his chest.

Part of him was worrying over how Shadow would react to… them being whole again, while the rest of him just wanted to see him. The part fretting was probably Vio, who also wanted to run into the room at full speed and wait until Shadow appeared to hug him and never let him go again. Link felt sorry for the part of him that was Vio, he’d had the worst end of the deal when being split. Hiding your emotions to make the most logical decisions and do the job of the brain, and those emotions finally coming forth only when it was too late, finally crashing down like a waterfall and leaving a once-again whole Link to deal with them without the guidance of anyone else.

After a few minutes of sulking, worrying, and agonizing waiting, Miss Fairy appeared a bit too close to Link’s face for his liking. “Link! Shadow’s here, and we sort of need your help now anyway so please hurry!” she yelled. Link jumped up as fast as humanly possible and threw open the door, almost ripping it off its hinges as he ran down the hall to the private cell in the dungeons being used for the ritual.

In that room were the Maidens and Zelda, all huddled together in a corner as Shadow was standing in the middle of the room, claws and fangs out as he snarled at them angrily. Oh, no.

At the sound of the door opening, Shadow’s gaze flashed to Link, his angry red eyes looking into Link’s wide blue ones. He completely froze, his claws and fangs vanishing and his disheveled, untamed appearance that occurred when a shapeshifter couldn’t concentrate was replaced with his former look of black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. It really didn’t suit him, Link thought-- or, Green thought.

“...No.” Shadow muttered. “I always knew you’d have to, but I’d never thought it’d have been so soon…”

Link’s heart broke a little and part of him felt like crying. Of course, Shadow had been real friends with only part of him, and now he couldn’t see that part again, not really. He’d never wanted to put the sword back, either, but he had to, to keep Ganon sealed.

No one moved, all of them stayed completely frozen, until Link decided to break the tension. He ran at Shadow with his arms outstretched and tackled him in a hug, knocking them both to the ground. Shadow gasped in surprise and also from lack of air, as Link had basically crushed him under his weight and quite literally knocked the breath out of him. After a few seconds of Shadow being frozen in shock and trying to regain air into his lungs, he hugged Link back tightly, burying his face into Link’s neck and squeezing his eyes shut.

The Maidens and Zelda slowly dispersed from the huddled group they had formed in the corner and Zelda stepped forward to the two boys. Shadow’s ears flicked down, a natural fear reaction with Hylians, and he opened his eyes, pushing away from Link and standing back up to look at her. His eyes were dark and he was clearly upset at her, but he didn’t do anything rude or dangerous again, so that was a plus.

“Princess.” he hissed, a bit more malice than expected seeping into his voice. Zelda just nodded at him with a small smile.

“Hello again, Shadow. It’s nice to see you again.” she said. Shadow held a hand up, scoffing at her.

“Don’t give me your pity, Princess, you know how much I hate that. Besides, you hated me, and I hate you right back. I saved you so that V-- Link could win, not so you could be rescued. I couldn’t care less to be honest, except for how you being safe means Ganon won’t come back.” he growled. Everyone else was seemingly oblivious, but Link could clearly tell how careful Shadow was with his words, trying very hard to pronounce each one correctly like he wasn’t used to speaking aloud. Zelda stepped back, alarmed, and put her hands on her hips.

“I wasn’t giving you pity! It really is nice to see you again, I missed your company!” she claimed, frowning at him.

“I was your only company!” Shadow shot back.

“You were nice, I appreciated your actions!” Zelda yelled, getting more heated with every syllable.

“YOU SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE!!” Shadow screamed, eyes glowing angrily again. He took a breath and relaxed, though the tension was still in his stance. He turned to Link, eyes dark again. “Where am I supposed to stay?” he asked.

“Well, there aren’t really spare rooms, so you can stay with me if you don’t want to sleep in the servant’s quarters.” Link suggested. Shadow sighed and stared at the ceiling, mouthing ‘why’ at the ceiling to himself. Finally, he looked back at Link.

“Sounds good enough.” he muttered, and gave a halfhearted wave over his shoulder as he walked past Link towards the door. “See you later, Princess.” he sighed. Link gave an apologetic smile at Zelda before hurrying to follow Shadow out of the dungeons.

The two walked in silence for a few seconds, until Shadow finally spoke up again. “...So… what’s your life been, after the adventure?” he asked. Link blinked in surprise and Shadow rolled his eyes. “What, you thought I’d come back into this world completely blind to what my counterpart is going through? I’m not stupid.” he explained. And there it was again, the carefulness to make sure he was saying everything out loud, that had disappeared momentarily when he was mumbling.

“Well… a lot of people want my autographs, for one thing.” Link muttered. Shadow laughed. It felt good to hear an actual laugh from him again, instead of an angry cackle or a sad chuckle. Vio missed that sound, he could tell. “I get stopped on the street a lot. People say I’m going to go down in history as a hero who defeated Ganon with the power of the Four Sword, just like whoever held it the first time.”

“Sounds terrible. I’m truly sorry for you and your rise to fame.” Shadow said monotonously. Link elbowed him in the shoulder, grinning.

“Yeah, it’s kind of annoying, but I can get away with way more than I did back when I was just the captain’s kid.” he laughed. Shadow sighed and folded his arms behind his head.

“What do they say about me?” he asked. “After I destroyed the castle and… the other stuff.” he muttered the last bit, glaring at the floor.

“I keep trying to tell the townspeople that you really are a hero and you’re a good person, but they don’t see past the monster that tried to destroy the world.” Link mumbled. “Only Zelda and a few of the maidens believe me, not even my dad actually thinks what I said was true.”

Shadow frowned. “Well, that’s expected, I guess, but I didn’t try to destroy the world. The castle was following orders, and all the other destruction was caused by other armies I wasn’t commanding. The only thing I did by myself, without being told, was taking hold of the Fire Temple and luring Vio to my side, sort of.” he ranted. “I hated destroying the castle, and my dragon got killed in the attack. The castle was beautiful, and if it was a different situation, I’m sure Vio would have loved my dragon… you would, I mean.” he corrected himself, and Link chose not to acknowledge that slip up.

Link opened the door to his room and Shadow stepped inside, frowning a bit at the setup as Link closed and locked the door behind him out of habit. “...There’s only one bed.” he muttered. Link stared at him, and he stared back, and they both burst into laughter.

“Who cares if we share a bed, Shadow!” Link laughed, and Shadow smiled.

“Isn’t there supposed to be one bed for every person, though?”

“Zelda and I shared a bed all the time at sleepovers, so I guess so but also no.”

Shadow scanned the rest of the room and his gaze stopped at the mirror on the wall. He walked over to it and turned it around with a small frown on his face, then turned back to the bed and ran at it full-speed, jumping onto it and quickly burying himself in the covers with a content hum that sounded more like a cat’s purr than a sound a human would make. Link laughed and sat on the edge of the bed next to Shadow, who grinned up at him like an excited child. “I’ve never been in a bed before!” he laughed. At Link’s concerned frown, he clarified. “I technically had a bed at the Fire Temple, but I gave it up so Vio could sleep comfortably. I slept on the floor.” he explained.

“You know, you look exactly the same as four years ago.” Link said. “You haven’t aged a day.”

“I literally haven’t, I haven’t been anything until right now, though I still know how long it’s been.” Shadow hummed. “What, you don’t like this look? Am I not pretty enough?” he joked. Link ruffled his hair like he did with the small children in Castle Town, laughing. Shadow didn’t pull away from his touch, and Link was glad.

“You look fine, I was just saying you don’t look different! That isn’t a bad thing!” he said. Shadow sat up and rolled out of the bed, standing up on the floor again. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and changed. He grew a few inches, not as tall as Link-- not nearly, Link was really tall, and his features changed to look a bit older. His skin darkened until he had taken on a Gerudo complexion instead of the pale Hylian skin tone, and his hair changed to a dark purple with yellow tips, growing longer and changing density until it was fluffy, a little curly, and hung right above his shoulders. His nails turned from black to different colors of the rainbow, randomized on each hand so it was different, the only nail staying the same being his silver-painted ring finger on both hands. When he opened his eyes again, they were a bright yellow, not too bright, with black sclera. His eyeliner stayed the same, of course.

He grinned at Link and flopped back down on the bed happily. “This fits me so much better, don’t you think?” he asked. Link nodded slowly.

“You look… really nice.” he said. And he did. Although… “Your clothes are a bit too small now.”

“Huh, right. That tunic barely fit us when we were twelve, anyway.” Shadow mumbled. “Got any clothes for me?”

“I’d probably have a larger size than you, but it’s better than too small clothes. And we can go to a tailor later.” Link said, getting up and rooting through his wardrobe for something Shadow might like. Part of him (Blue) wanted to pick something ridiculous that no one in their right mind would wear, like that horrible orange suit Link had gotten for his birthday from his aunt, but he decided to not do that. Instead, he picked out an outfit that was sure to fit Shadow’s tastes.

Shadow was flashy, sure, but still preferred being in the background rather than being the center of attention when given a choice. He also was very physically active despite seemingly having no muscle definition whatsoever-- which made sense, since his body was composed of magic and he could change it to his liking at any time. So something easy to move around in, and also something warm since it was the middle of winter. Actually… “Are you affected by temperatures? Seasons?” Link asked. Shadow nodded.

“Yes, I am, I just choose to ignore it. I’m fine right now, just a little cold. What season is it?”

“The middle of winter. Not exactly festive season yet, but it’s getting pretty close.” Link answered. “The rest of the castle is much colder than this room, I keep it heated.” Only after Red had worried that he might get frostbite, and Link agreed to light his fireplace when he could. 

Link rooted around for the outfit he had mentally composed in his head, finally finding it. It consisted of a loose white blouse with billowing sleeves that would most definitely cover the palms of his hands. It was made of warm material, so Shadow could wear it around the castle with only a jacket without much problem. He also picked out loose black pants that ended just below the ankle, and a black belt and socks. He didn’t think Shadow would be his shoe size, however. He also got a black knitted hat that he’d never worn before despite buying it for seventy rupees at the store a few weeks ago.

He handed the outfit to Shadow and went back to looking in the closet for jackets they could wear, turning back to look at Shadow when he sensed that Shadow had finished changing. The teen’s former tunic and weird magic hat sat neatly folded on the nightstand and he was standing in front of the bed, looking over his new outfit. He grabbed the yellow jacket Link handed him and slipped it on, frowning at Link with a confused look in his eyes. “...Why a yellow jacket?” he asked. Link shrugged.

“I got the impression you liked the color yellow based on your hair tips and new eye color.” he explained. Shadow nodded slowly, tugging at the jacket sleeves. Both the shirt and the jacket’s sleeves covered more than half his hands, Link was definitely a few sizes too big for him. The pants were rolled up a bit so they didn’t drag on the floor and the belt held them up fine. Great, he didn’t look too ridiculous in clothes a few sizes too big. He actually made it look rather nice.

Really, Shadow had only grown like two inches, and Link had been rather short as a kid. When he’d hit fourteen, he’d had a rather large growth spurt, and grew approximately seven inches in the span of a month. He should have expected his clothes to be too big on Shadow, but not that much.

“Well, you were right, yellow is actually my favorite color. It used to be purple, for… obvious reasons, but yellow’s bright and happy, and I actually really like the sunlight. It just hurt a little because I was previously made of dark magic, so I couldn’t go out in it…” Shadow explained. “What time is it?”

“That was a really obvious subject change, but it’s seven PM. The sun went down at six, and we needed to perform the ritual at night for it to work. I have to train some new recruits in night fighting soon, actually, so if you’d rather stay here and, I don’t know, root through my desk for dirty secrets or something, you can.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t need to know your whole night schedule, but okay. Do you actually have dirty secrets for me to find out? Because that would be awesome.”

Link shook his head with a disturbed frown. “No! I don’t!”

“Your face says you're lying!” Shadow sang as he ran over to Link’s desk and threw off all the papers covering it to look in the drawers easier.

“H-hey! That’s my history paper, it’s due tomorrow!” Link screeched. Shadow rolled his eyes and continued pulling random things out of Link’s desk, examining them, and tossing them on the floor.

“I didn’t ruin it!” he protested.

“You threw it on the floor and messed up my entire organization system! Please just don’t drop my stuff!” Link ran forward and started trying to gather up his things as Shadow continued to drop every single one of his personal belongings on the floor out of spite. After he thoroughly looked through every single drawer in Link’s desk and found nothing of interest, Shadow sat down on the floor and watched Link finish reorganizing his desk.

“So… what’s your rank now?” Shadow asked, grabbing a pencil and twirling it in his hand.

“As a Knight?”

“No, as a squirrel-- YES, as a Knight.” Shadow drawled. Link rolled his eyes and sat in his desk chair, crossing his legs, as he never sat in chairs ‘correctly,’ and looking down at Shadow.

“I’m a full-fledged Knight now, and not-- well, not the actual captain, that’s still my dad, but I train the other Knights and command them like a captain. I’m like the second-in-command.” Link said, bragging a bit at the end. Shadow blinked at him and then burst out laughing, falling over on the floor. “Hey!”

“Sorry, I’m just surprised-- I thought you hated working with groups!” Shadow said, still laughing.

“I-- I didn’t hate it, I just preferred working on my own, but it’s always better to work with others in the long run, and besides, it’s literally my job now!” Link shouted over Shadow’s giggling.

Shadow finally calmed down enough to catch his breath, though he still looked at Link with eyes shining with mirth. “Anyway, can I train with you? With night fighting?” he asked. Link gave him a look.

“Why? You don’t need any practice with that, you’re made of dark magic and I know for a fact you thrive at nighttime.” Link asked skeptically. “...Are you just asking to come along so you’ll get to make fun of me?”

“No, of course not! Green was a good leader, and so was V-Vio, so you definitely are. I want to come along because, while I am made of darkness, this body is still pretty new and I’m not used to it yet. I can move around normally just fine, but using my powers, fighting, stuff like that? I can’t do that yet. Shapeshifting is easy because it’s second nature, but other than that? I’m a newborn baby in the magic and combat departments.” Shadow grinned wider. “Also, I want to make fun of the new Knights.”

Link gave a short laugh and shook his head, letting his hair fall into his eyes. “Of course you would…” he mumbled. “Well, I need to leave soon, so once I’ve changed into my uniform you can tag along. And if you really are as rusty as you say, I’d be happy to fight you. You were a better fighter back then, but I’ve improved a lot while you were gone, so I’m sure I can beat you now.”

Shadow grinned evilly. Of course, evil as in ‘mischievous,’ not evil as in ‘I’m going to kill people and enjoy it.’ That Shadow was destroyed with the Dark Mirror. “If you’re sure.” he said. Link shuddered. Shadow was legitimately terrifying when he said things like that. Though, Link having half a foot on him height-wise definitely helped diffuse that sense of dread.

Link changed his clothes from his casual wear to his newer Knight’s uniform. He still wore the classic green tunic, as a symbol of his so-called heroics, but with armor and lots more layers to protect him from the elements. And also weapons, of course. He turned to Shadow and was surprised to see him actually taking off the socks and tying the jacket around his waist. “Why are you taking those off?” he asked.

“Because I actually used to fight better barefoot. I’ve always hated shoes-- I just wore boots because it was part of the outfit. And I’m sure that if we’re training, I’ll want to keep the jacket off.” Shadow explained. Link shrugged and went back to struggling to put on his armor.

“If you say so.” he muttered. Shadow looked him up and down before walking over to help him strap the armor on, fixing it easily and adjusting it to fit Link perfectly. “Oh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“How do you know how to put on armor? You never wore any, none of us did.”

“I… may have played dress-up in the armory and pretended to be a Knight while waiting for you guys to show up.” Shadow mumbled, looking away with embarrassment. Link held back a laugh and just ruffled Shadow’s hair again. He hissed and rushed to fix it, though the style didn’t change and it had already looked really messy.

“That… is an adorable mental image.” Link said. Shadow huffed and put his hands on his hips, looking up at Link.

“Don’t act like you didn’t do that too! I watched you through the Dark Mirror!” he argued.

“I-- yeah, but I never expected you to have been so childish!” Link finally started laughing. Shadow rolled his eyes at him with raised eyebrows.

“I LITERALLY spent days making the volcano fighting arena just to be dramatic and impress Vio. I ALSO played tag with the hinox soldiers lots of times, and hide-and-seek with Vaati.” Shadow listed, counting on his fingers. “AND I stole cookies from the Castle Town after the raid as well, just to try and decorate them with icing like it was the Winter Ball. ALSO, also, I read fairy tales aloud and acted them out like I was the hero, and I made pillow forts in my room, and I made sure I had bath bombs every time I had to take a bath, and-- STOP LAUGHING, I’M TRUSTING YOU WITH THIS INFORMATION!” he yelled. Link continued laughing. Shadow grabbed the Knight’s helmet and slammed it on his head to shut him up.

“Ow! You know how heavy these are? That hurt!”

“Exactly. Stop laughing about how I was acting like the twelve-year-old I should have been, and let’s go.” Shadow scolded, though Link detected a hint of sadness in his voice. He didn’t press, however, and just led Shadow out of the room into the hall.

After a few minutes of walking, Shadow made them stop. “What, gonna decide socks are better than bare feet on a cold floor?” Link joked. Instead of getting a snarky remark like he’d expected, Shadow jumped on his back, holding on to the straps of his armor like a monkey. Link yelled in surprise and struggled to regain his balance. Shadow was extremely light, not to mention short, but the ‘attack’ still shocked Link enough to throw off his footing.

“What are you doing?!” Link asked, after finally being able to stand upright again. Shadow wrapped his legs around Link’s waist and hooked his wrists under Link’s shoulder pads to get a better grip.

“Carry me. I’m tired and I can’t fly yet.” Shadow ordered. Instead of being offended that someone who looked basically-thirteen despite being his age, Link just grumbled in annoyance and kept walking, with the added luggage of his new roommate resting on his back.

“...Hey, Shadow, I have a question.” Link started hesitantly. They had a few minutes before they got to the grounds, and there was no one around to hear the conversation, so this was the perfect time to ask. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I just noticed something.”

“Ask away.” Shadow said.

“I noticed your, uh, speaking patterns when you talk are a lot like mine.” Link began. Shadow tensed behind him. So, he wasn’t just imagining things. “You try really hard to sound out every word, like you have a hard time making noise, and saying things. I only noticed because I do the same thing, I’m sure no one else noticed if that’s what you’re worried about, but I was just wondering why.”

Shadow sighed, and he sounded so, so tired, and Vio briefly remembered when Shadow had first learned his betrayal, and he was so angry, but he sounded just like that, like he just didn’t want to be there anymore, or do anything, and--

 _”Vio, please, we can overanalyze Shadow’s emotional state when we aren’t trying to hold a conversation.”_ Blue huffed.

“I-- you won’t judge me, right?” Shadow asked. Link shook his head.

“Of course not!”

 _”I would.”_ Blue laughed, but it was more of a teasing than an actual threat. Green shushed him.

“Okay, then…” Shadow took a shaky breath. “Can we stop walking for a minute?” he asked. Link nodded and Shadow jumped off his back, twisting to stand in front of him. He lifted his right hand to his chest, slightly bent and his palm facing inward. He stared at the wall behind Link, not looking him in the eyes as he moved his hand down his torso. Then, he took the same hand and touched his pointer finger to his cheek, right in front of his ear. He then moved his finger in a small arch across his cheek and touched it near his mouth.

Sign language.

Link didn’t know sign language, not that well. He knew the basic alphabet, and he knew some simple signs that he’d picked up over time, enough to know the first sign Shadow made was ‘I,’ ‘I’m,’ or ‘I am.’ But, he couldn’t understand more than that.

Shadow grinned at him, waiting, not sad, only nervous, as Link tried to put the pieces together. Shadow was something, he knew Hylian sign language, he tried really hard to pronounce his words correctly, and he sometimes stared right at Link’s face like he was looking for something, just like the White Maiden did because she couldn’t… hear…

Oh.

“You’re deaf?” Link asked. Shadow shrugged.

“Sort of. I’m about to be, at least.” he said, signing along as he spoke, maybe to see if Link understood his movements, or to teach him, but most likely because he just wanted to show off. 

“I can still hear, but everything’s really quiet all the time and sometimes not even there, and everything’s gotten more and more quiet since I came back. I already knew HSL before, because some monsters were naturally deaf like Wizzrobes-- yeah, you probably didn’t know that-- but something happened.”

“When you and I were… maybe six, there was one Wizzrobe who just hated how I could hear fine when I talked to them and I guess it got jealous, and, uh, it cast a spell to physically take away my hearing. I didn’t even really understand until a few days later, there was a thunderstorm and it was completely silent. It came back after a minute, but it was so quiet I could barely hear anything, like I had wax stuffed in my ears. My hearing sometimes just disappears, completely, but it’s getting worse and worse and the times I can just barely hear anything are few and far between. I’d guess that by the end of tomorrow, at the latest, my hearing will be completely gone and I won’t be able to fix it.”

Link just stared at him in shock as he talked. He opened his mouth to ask if there was anything he could do, but Shadow shook his head before he could. “Yeah, no, there isn’t any counter-spell. And hearing aids and stuff don’t even work, which I’m pretty sure was on purpose.” he said. “You’d just need to try a little harder to get my attention and help me understand some stuff, and I’m doing fine barely hearing anything right now.”

Link tried to think of something, anything to say. He couldn’t imagine losing his hearing, and saying something like ‘I’m sorry’ would probably anger Shadow rather than comfort him. Before he could think of anything, Shadow just shook his head at him and walked ahead towards the grounds. Link hurried after him and Shadow climbed on his back again without a word, the two continuing their short journey in silence.

\---

When they finally got to the training grounds, the new recruits seemed startled that the hero Link was their trainer, but after getting over the initial shock, they burst out laughing. Link rolled his eyes. Were they laughing because he looked younger than they thought he’d look? Because they were older? Things like that, which Link usually had to deal with? Or were they laughing because Link was carrying someone who looked like and still had the mind of a child on his back?

“...What?” Link asked, faking obliviousness to whatever they were laughing at.

“You… sorry, Sir, we aren’t really laughing at you, we know what happened to the other recruits who made fun of your age and stuff, it’s just…” stuttered one of the recruits, still laughing. “Who’s the kid on your back?”

“Oh, this is Shadow, he’s my new roommate. We recently resurrected him from the Dark World after he died in the battle against Ganon.” Link explained nonchalantly. Shadow nodded innocently. The recruits stopped laughing and just looked at Shadow skeptically.

“...We’ve heard descriptions of him, and he either looked like a terrible monster, or just Link with black hair. Not…” the first recruit gestured at Shadow’s general appearance, which Link knew looked nothing like Shadow had before. “That.”

“Also, he looks like a kid. He should be your age if he’s Shadow, right?” asked another recruit. Link shook his head.

“Shadow’s a shapeshifter, first of all, so he decided to change his appearance once he’d gotten situated. He didn’t get resurrected looking like this. Also, he’s just short.”

“Changing my body type is hard, I’m supposed to grow naturally like a normal person, not with magic!” Shadow protested. “It’s not my fault you stupid Hylians take so long to grow, and it’s also not my fault I was resurrected with the same physical age as when I died! You idiot.”

Instead of arguing back like Shadow obviously intended for him to do, Link just dropped him in the snow. Shadow yelped in surprise and struggled to stand back up, brushing himself off and glaring daggers at Link. “That was a wrong move, right there.” he growled.

“Stop hissing at me, Shadow.” Link said, turning back to the dumbfounded recruits. “Shadow’s here to train with us so he can shape up his rusty combat skills. Now, let’s start the lesson with some pretty simple hand-to-hand combat techniques.”

Link went through the basic motions of a few techniques they were supposed to learn, describing when and how to use them in what situation and why they worked best at night. Shadow had to admit, he was a good teacher. And, thanks to Link’s amazing memory that Shadow also had, the former demon was able to commit all the moves to memory as Link talked, going through the motions in his head. People often underestimated Link’s memory, but it was extremely good despite his inability to understand basic directions.

“Now, I’m going to pair you all up with each other. Shadow, you want to join?” Link asked, turning to his companion. Shadow could already see his face fully, which Link probably did on purpose, and so he could thankfully understand what he was saying easily enough. Shadow shrugged, crossing his arms.

“Sure.” he said. While he wasn’t fully used to his new flesh-cage of a body yet, making it a bit harder than he’d like to relearn different skills that used to come easily, he was still naturally faster and more agile than most Hylians. Hylians were slow and clumsy, while the physical abilities of Shadow’s original body, and by extension his new one, had been crafted after that of a Gerudo’s… minus the height advantage, of course. This was probably because Ganon created him, and he was originally a Gerudo himself. Shadow had previously shapeshifted to look more like a Hylain, so he’d replicate Link, but the natural agility, flexibility, and speed of the Gerudo tribe was basically in his blood (sadly, he didn’t have a lot of strength, because he used magic instead of training his physical body, which might have been a mistake now that he thought about it).

He couldn’t get rid of that easily.

Link lined up the recruits and Shadow in a single row and paired them off with each other. Shadow, sadly, wasn’t paired with the third recruit, who he had taken a liking to after he’d apologized for possibly insulting him and Link. He was very nice. Instead, he was paired with the eighth, who was definitely the physically strongest out of all of them. Link must have been confident in Shadow’s skills. The man was huge and basically twice Shadow’s size. He was obviously half-Goron, with his rock-like body and large muscles.

Link raised his hand in the air, nodding at the groups. “Ready… begin!” he yelled out, and wow, if it wouldn’t bother other people Shadow would ask Link to yell all the time because it sounded like how a normal-volumed voice used to sound when he was younger and it was wonderful.

The other guy got into a fighting stance, though it was pretty sloppy in Shadow’s opinion. The guy smiled at him. “I know you’re just a kid, so I’m going to go easy on you. I don’t care if you’re really Shadow Link or not, I don’t believe someone with a physique like that could win in hand-to-hand combat.” he said, though it wasn’t cocky. It actually seemed like he was trying to do Shadow a favor, trying to take care of him, which he both appreciated (because he craved positive attention and any form of affection he could get) and absolutely hated (because it seemed kind of like pity). He also spoke very clearly, thankfully, and didn’t slur his words together. So, Shadow could put together what he was saying pretty easily.

Shadow took a moment to look his opponent up and down, analyzing him. Based on his physical structure, he was naturally strong and hard to knock over. He was also probably really heavy, like Shadow expected someone with any Goron blood to be. He wouldn’t bruise easily, and it wouldn’t be a long fight if they were relying solely on strength. Thankfully, Shadow had an advantage.

As soon as the guy took a step forward, Shadow jumped into the tree above them.

“Wha-- hey!... is… to-hand… not… seek!” the guy protested, looking up at the tree. Shadow didn’t even try to make out what he actually said, it was too quiet because of distance and he couldn’t see the guy’s face now, anyways. Shadow scrambled up the tall trunk as fast as he could, glad that muscle memory kicked in for this oddly specific skill. He loved climbing trees, and had often physically climbed them instead of just flying to the top.

The guy looked up the tree trying to spot Shadow through the thick branches, and while he did that, Shadow silently dropped behind him. The snow muffled the impact so he barely made a sound, and the guy was none the wiser. Shadow crept up behind him and jumped on his back, wrapping his arms around the guy’s neck.

Sadly, the guy caught on as soon as Shadow had grabbed him. He was more perceptive than he looked. He wrapped his hand around Shadow’s arm and flipped the teen onto his back so he was on the ground, the other guy standing over him.

“I win, right?” he asked, looking over at Link hopefully. Link shook his head.

“No, you sure knocked the wind out of him, but he needs to be pinned for ten seconds and he’s already getting up.” he said, grinning. The guy looked back to see, sure enough, Shadow was already on his feet. And he wasn’t wearing shoes?

“How are you fighting barefoot? It’s freezing out here! You’re going to get frostbite!” the guy said, quickly switching out of his fighting mindset into worry, because this was a child, half his age, barefoot in the snow! That couldn’t be good!

Shadow smiled at him. “I’m made of magic, if I do get sick it won’t be that bad, and besides, I fight better barefoot.” he said reassuringly. The guy frowned but nodded, switching back to the fighting mode. He rushed at Shadow, who quickly dodged left towards the tree. Realizing what he was trying to do, the guy grabbed Shadow’s arm again and tugged him away from the tree trunk, back on the ground. This time, he pinned Shadow with his own weight so Shadow couldn’t get up. Shadow twisted around so that he was on his stomach and slipped out of his grasp, standing up yet again.

The guy stood back up again and grinned at him. “How long has it been since you’ve fought?” he asked. Shadow shrugged.

“Apparently four years, I’ve been dead a long time.” he answered. The guy nodded.

“You’re pretty good at dodging, I’m impressed.”

“And your fighting techniques are also exceptional-- you’re a little slow, though.”

“Thank y-- hey!”

“I’m just saying!” Shadow laughed. They started fighting again, the guy throwing punches and Shadow dodging them with a bit of difficulty. He couldn’t transform into mist, he had to remember that. The guy managed to grab the front of Shadow’s shirt and lifted him off the ground, planning to slam him back down and knock the wind out of him again. Shadow twisted in his grip and hooked his legs around the guy’s neck, flipping back so the guy fell over on top of Shadow. Shadow then twisted again and somehow wound up on the guy’s back, holding his arm behind him and slowly twisting it until the guy yelled in pain and gave up.

Shadow let go of the guy’s arm and sat up, helping the other guy up as well. He looked around to see they were the last group to finish, the others watching them fight. Link grinned at both of them.

“Abelardo, your fighting skills are great, but you’re a little slow to react and you didn’t seem to notice what was going on around you for a second. You need to work on your night vision.” Link said. The guy, apparently named Abelardo, nodded. “And, Shadow, please refrain from bailing out on a fight next time.”

“I didn’t bail!” Shadow protested. Link rolled his eyes.

“Don’t play games with your opponents,” he clarified. “You hid in a tree waiting for him to find you, which is literally hide-and-seek, and got bored.”

Shadow opened his mouth to argue and closed it again, shuffling his feet. “...Fine.” Link nodded in satisfaction and continued helping them all work on their fighting techniques. Abelardo and Shadow paired up for the rest of the night.

When Link and Shadow got back to their room, Shadow fell on to the bed face down, exhausted. Link laughed at him as he started taking off his armor and getting pyjamas. “Shadow, we’re both gross right now, don’t lie on the bed.” he scolded lightly, talking louder on purpose so Shadow could understand him without lip-reading. Shadow groaned into the pillow.

“I hurt all over and I’m definitely going to have bruises everywhere. Abelardo hits really hard, Link, those punches hurt.” Shadow whined, listening to Link and rolling off the bed to lie on the floor instead.

“You and Abelardo became really fast friends, huh?” Link questioned. Shadow nodded.

“Yeah, he’s nice and doesn’t treat me like a child. Well, he does, but not in a bad way.” he said. “Also, he’s a great fighting opponent even though our styles clash.”

“Thought so. Based on combat style and ability alone, I would have chosen you to fight Kennith, but he’s a little… uh, you’d probably actually kill him, so I chose Abelardo instead to challenge you more and to avoid actual bloodshed.” Link explained with a nod.

“Ah.” Shadow muttered. Link threw spare pyjamas at Shadow’s face, and Shadow failed to catch them. “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Down the hall there’s a bathouse, it’s a big blue door and it’s clearly labeled. It’s on the left. There are towels and stuff already there.” Link answered. Shadow nodded and left, carrying the pyjamas with him. The baths were actually pretty nice, and sectioned off from one another for privacy. Taking a few towels, Shadow quickly searched the shelves for bath bombs. Thankfully, he found a couple and threw them into his bath happily.

Shadow finished bathing and changing into pyjamas before Link did, which meant he had the bed to himself for a few minutes. He climbed in and closed his eyes, waiting for Link to get back. When he finally did, Shadow immediately sat up and looked him dead in the eyes.

“...What is it?” Link asked hesitantly. Shadow got right to the point.

“I saw you mouthing words to yourself during training, and not just random thoughts or anything, you were having actual conversations with the air.” he said seriously. Link blinked a few times and started fidgeting, refusing to move anywhere but growing increasingly panicked as the silence pressed on. He forgot Shadow could lip-read when he was talking to the others, of course he’d noticed that he actually had conversations and not random mutterings. Shadow, finally having enough of this, stepped up to Link and grabbed his shoulders, stopping the fidgeting. “Link.” he said.

“W-what?”

“What happened to the others?”

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me your opinion on this story so far in the comments and/or leave a kudos if you liked it! I'd really appreciate it!
> 
> My Tumblr is @singingvio, and I run an incorrect quotes blog too at @four-swords-incorrect!


	2. Link Gets Really Angry Multiple Times And Zelda Fires Someone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel like it's been too long, but here's Chapter 2! Shadow and Zelda have slightly less tension, Shadow obviously has a crush, Link gets extremely pissed off by multiple people, Zelda fires someone, and we meet two new characters!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit the tags after this chapter ugh. I love this chapter, because a lot of Feelings Stuff happened and I got to expand a bit on Zelda and Shadow's relationship in the present day, but also. Editing it was a bitch and I never want to rewrite this chapter ever again holy shit.

“So, let me get this straight.” Shadow said, pacing back and forth as Link watched him from the bed. “While the Four Sword managed to combine your body, your mind stayed split, and as a result you, Link, are technically one mind BUT…” he ran his hands through his hair, turning to Link with wide eyes. “You have voices in your head that are your counterparts, and you talk to them all the time, and you even get headaches from it and zone out a lot while they speak, and SOMEHOW you’ve managed to keep this hidden from literally everyone?”

Link nodded slowly, embarrassed. He’d thought he’d been hiding it well, but obviously not well enough, definitely not enough to fool Shadow’s somewhat decent lip-read skills. Shadow let out a breath, exasperated. His appearance shifted as he got more agitated, his eyes and hair changing colors, his nails seeming to shift between normal, blunt nails and claws, his hair floating around him like his hat used to, and it made Link slightly nauseous. Zelda’s prophetic magic was bad enough, Shadow’s shapeshifting was worse.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ANYONE, THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM!” Shadow screeched, throwing his hands up in the air as he glared at Link accusingly. He looked very close to continuing, and Link attempted to shut that down as soon as possible.

“Shadow, calm down!” Link shouted, and Shadow clamped his mouth shut immediately. He grabbed Shadow’s arm and pulled him on to the bed so they were both sitting down. “I really didn’t want anyone to know, I KNOW this is a huge problem, but I’m in line to be the next Captain of the guard when my dad retires! If word gets out about this, people are going to think I’m crazy!” he ranted. Shadow frowned, leaning back a little.

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” he said.

“Yeah, well you’re my mirror image--” Link apologized as Shadow grimaced. “Sorry, not good phrasing-- You understand me better than anyone!” he added.

“Wrong, I don’t understand you at all, I just make guesses based on what I’d do and then either go with that or the complete opposite.” Shadow corrected. “And that isn’t my point. I really don’t think Zelda will think you’re crazy, and neither will your dad, but you need help with this!”

“I know I do, I’ve been trying to do research on things that can help, but all the answers just tell me to go to a therapist, and that isn’t what I need!” Link said angrily. He clenched his fists so he didn’t throw something like he badly wanted to. “My own personality and state of mind is fine, the problem is that I’m sharing headspace with four different people right now, or souls, whatever!”

“Do you have any theories as to why this is happening? If you do, we can work on a solution.” Shadow suggested. Link shrugged, walking over to his desk.

“Yeah, I do, it’s written down here somewhere…” he searched through the papers that Shadow hadn’t bothered to read and finally got one, reading over it aloud as he didn’t want Shadow to struggle reading his terrible handwriting. Shadow paid close attention, his eyes shifting colors as Link read. “Do you think it makes sense?”

“From a magical sense? Absolutely. From a normal person’s perspective? Probably not.” Shadow answered. Link slumped in defeat. “Hey, this problem is something regular people probably can’t help with anyways, so who cares?” he assured him. “It makes perfect sense considering your adventure and the powers of the Four Sword, too.”

Link perked up, his ears twitching up at that. “Really?”

“Yeah, it does. The last one to use the Four Sword didn’t actually grow as a person and only split up when he had to, but you didn’t know how to use the magic correctly and stayed split for weeks. That gave each of your counterparts time to grow into their own people and personalities, which made them develop their own souls and everything along with the piece of the soul that’s yours alone. So, when you joined together, you accidentally joined five souls instead of one, so now you’ve got four extra souls trapped in one body that’s only supposed to belong to one soul, which is you, and as a result you hear your counterparts speak in your head because they’re literally trapped in your head. You’re you, Link, but you also see the Link that’s still split into four.”

“Yeah, exactly!”

“The question is, how to get y’all to split up again without using the powers of the Four Sword.” Shadow started, grabbing a spare piece of parchment and pencil and handing it to Link.

“Wait, split up?” Link asked, sitting up straighter and giving Shadow a look. He took the paper anyway. Shadow nodded, rolling his eyes.

“You heard me.” he said. “We can’t use the Four Sword again since that’ll release Ganon, so is there another magic item that can split y’all up again? It might turn you into five Links instead of four, because of the whole soul thing we thought of, but the more the merrier.” Shadow handed the paper and pencil to Link, who took it with a confused glance at Shadow.

“Oh… right. Why are you giving me paper?”

“Because I want to list possibilities, but… I can’t, uh…” Shadow trailed off and Link’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Don’t tell me--” he started. Shadow nodded slowly, embarrassment clear on his features.

“I’m illiterate.” Link blinked a couple times, then just slowly shook his head.

“What the fuck.” he muttered. Shadow gave him a look, slapping him in the arm. “I’m guessing Ganon and Vaati didn’t see the need to teach you?”

“Yeah…” Shadow chuckled. “Look at me, I’m so great.” he joked.

“We’ve got to fix that later, I’ll teach you.” Link put the parchment on the nightstand and laid down in the bed. “And also, let’s actually sleep. It’s a weekend tomorrow, which means I get to sleep in, but I’d rather not wake up at noon.”

Shadow laughed as he laid down next to Link. “You do realize that you’re including me in ‘sleeping’?”

“Yeah.”

“Demons don’t really need sleep to function, unlike you meatbags.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just saying!”

“Sleep anyway. You’re a meatbag now, albeit a magic one.”

“No, I’m gonna try and re-train myself to use magic instead. Be productive, you know?” Shadow jumped out of the bed again, grinning down at Link. Link just rolled his eyes and turned over so he was facing the wall and not the door.

“Don’t come crying to me when you’re tired in the morning.” he muttered, shutting his eyes. Shadow nodded and turned to the mirror. He waited until he saw Link’s chest rising and falling evenly with his breathing, signaling he was asleep, before moving. He reluctantly walked up to the mirror and turned it back around, wincing at the glass face. He hated mirrors, for obvious reasons.

Shadow took a deep breath and held out his hand, curling his fingers into a fist. He concentrated for a few seconds, and a black flame appeared, engulfing his hand completely. It didn’t burn, it was actually freezing. Black fire was used in magic, and sometimes as a light source, but never a heat source. If you weren’t a being of darkness, then it would actually be so cold to the touch that you might freeze to death. He’d been surprised when Red had managed to light the lanterns in the Temple of Darkness, since the rest of the temple was lit with black fire.

Shadow opened his hand out again and turned in around, the fire completely covering it still. He flicked his other hand, and the flame disappeared. His magic worked, but he didn’t need any light. He could see in the dark just fine, thank you very much.

He snapped his fingers, and a blob of ink-shadow-something appeared in front of him. He tossed it between his hands for a few seconds, an invisible force stopping it from touching his skin. Then, he threw it at the mirror, and instead of shattering, the blob instead started spreading across the mirror’s surface, covering it like a spider’s web until the glass was no longer visible, instead just a square of darkness. It started to glow, and Shadow smiled at the surface, a real, genuine smile.

“Hey, Vio. Everyone. This is more of a personal video log than anything important, but who knows? It might be useful to your research in the future.” he started.

“I know you’ll probably never see this, but it feels better than just talking to myself, you know? Pretend I’m talking to someone else, that I know and… somewhat trust. It’s a place to record my thoughts, in case I forget anything important, and just in case you do want to listen to me ramble from the past. So, here I am! Talking! From the past! Yay. Actually, I’m gonna sign along with my words here-- get some practice in, you know? And also so, I don’t know, you can learn it. Or, do you already? You’re already so smart, Vio, I’m sure that if I had told you I had terrible hearing before, you would have learned it in an hour just because you could.”

Shadow spread his hands out, laughing. “Let’s change the subject. This place is nice. I like it here, I guess, though the people aren’t exactly my crowd. Zelda and I have a lot of tension and, honestly, that whole exchange feels like yesterday to me. When she slapped me in the face, I mean, and the rest of it. I don’t know enough about the Maidens, or the Knights, but they probably hold some sort of grudge against me, and I don’t blame them. Link’s great, though. Of course he is, he’s the hero of Hyrule… he’s so nice, and I… he’s a great friend. Just like you, Vio, except now we don’t have any dark… mirrors to break. Heh. I’m only going to make the one video for this week, so I guess I’ll keep talking.”

After an unspecified amount of time where Shadow talked all about whatever he wanted, he finally finished. “I’ll see you later, Vio… I love you.” he said with a wide grin, hesitating before the last part and just barely sounding it out. Shadow swiped his hand against the mirror, and it stopped glowing. He knew the recording wasn’t gone, it was just inaccessible until he performed the spell again. It was just like a pictobox, but the pictures moved, and talked. It was nice, to feel like Vio was watching the silly recordings from the other side of the mirror… even though that couldn’t be possible, since he was stuck in Link’s head.

\---

The next morning, Link woke up to feel an unfamiliar weight on his chest. He looked down to see Shadow, curled up on top of him and the covers. It reminded him of a cat. A large, slightly terrifying, human-shaped cat. It looked like Shadow had fallen asleep, eventually. He wanted to let his friend sleep in, since magic would exhaust the user anyways and he’d probably gotten very little sleep anyway, but also…

He couldn’t move without moving Shadow. From his (Vio’s) memories of the Fire Temple, Shadow was a fairly light sleeper and tended to be nocturnal, being woken at the slightest shift in the night. Though, when tired enough, he would sleep for a very long time and couldn’t be woken by anything subtler than an army of Hinoxes screaming in his ear.

 _”Let’s shake him awake!”_ Blue suggested, sounding much more mischievous than Link would like.

 _”Absolutely not!”_ Red protested.

Maybe if he just… Link shifted a bit, freeing his arms and gently pushing Shadow off him. Okay, good, that worked. Link sat up and quickly changed into his casual attire. For the cold weather, and the regularly cold temperature of almost every room in the castle, he just put on a sweater and long pants with boots.

He crept towards the door, trying not to make any noise, when Shadow shifted around and opened his eyes. He stared at Link sleepily and sat up, blinking at the sudden bright light in the room that was morning. “What time is it?” he mumbled, sleepily signing along with his words. He didn’t do that last night. Link checked the clock on his wall.

 _”See, Blue, he woke up on his own!”_ Red said smugly. Blue huffed.

 _”Yeah, yeah. Shut up.”_ he mumbled.

“Uh, nine in the morning.” Link answered aloud, holding up nine fingers just in case he wasn’t speaking clearly enough.

“Huh.” Shadow stood up and stretched, yawning. “Only slept two hours but I think it was worth it…”

“Shadow, that… that can’t be healthy.”

 _”It’s not.”_ Vio said dryly. Blue flared angrily at him like he was trying to slap Vio with an emotional aura instead of his hand.

Shadow flipped him off tiredly and put on the yellow jacket from last night over his pyjamas. Link raised an eyebrow at his outfit. “You’re not getting dressed?”

“These are warm clothes and it’s cold outside.” Shadow reasoned, as if walking around in pyjamas and an old jacket was a perfectly normal thing most people in the castle did. Link nodded, deciding not to argue, and the two left the room. “So, where are we going?”

“Breakfast, and while we eat we can brainstorm ideas of how to split me up again if you want.” he suggested. Shadow grinned.

“Alright, then!” he cheered. “Are you going to tell anyone about this? At all?”

“No.”

“But-- you’d need someone’s help to use the magic--”

“Aren’t you a magic user?”

“Only dark magic, and I only fully got the hang of it again last night-- took a while, too. I can’t use any other types of magic, except maybe lightning.” Shadow reasoned. Link frowned.

“...Oh.” he muttered. Shadow chuckled.

“Yeah. Where do we eat?”

“Just in the dining hall-- everyone eats in there who lives in the castle, the Knights, the Princess, the servants, everyone.” Link answered. Shadow made a face, sticking his tongue out.

“Ew, people.”

“You don’t have to talk to anyone.”

“Thank Din.” Shadow said.

 _”I wish I didn’t have to talk to anyone.”_ Blue said.

 _”You don’t. We’re in Link’s head.”_ Vio corrected smugly.

_”Yeah, but we still have to follow along with whatever conversation Link’s having! It’s annoying.”_

_”Shush. Now, breakfast.”_ Green said. They all fell silent.

“Link?” Shadow waved his hand in front of Link’s face. Link blinked and stared at him. “You zoned out. Is it the others?”

Link nodded. “Um, yeah, sorry, I, uh, they don’t like… me talking to people early in the morning.”

Shadow laughed. “Wow. That’s great.” he said. Link shuffled his feet, thinking of how to ask the question Green was pestering him to ask. “Do you know-- I mean, do you want-- If you--” he stuttered.

 _”Wow, this is a train wreck in word form.”_ Vio drawled.

 _”Stop with your pessimistic sense of humor, Vio.”_ Green commented.

“...Do you want me to do anything, help, or, uh…” Link finally said, managing to get a coherent sentence out. “This isn’t pity or anything, I swear, I just, I want to help you? If you want-- oh, Vio’s right, you hate this idea, I’ll stop now.”

“Link, calm down, you’re mumbling now.” Shadow said bluntly. Oh, no, did he not understand what he said, then? “I know what you’re asking, though.” Good. Or, maybe not, depending on his reaction, because Vio said--

 _”I never said anything!”_ Vio protested.

 _”We really need to work on you keeping your thoughts from being broadcasted to all of us later, Vio.”_ Blue grumbled.

“So, uh, what’s your answer?” Link asked hesitantly. This was much more awkward than it would have been if he hadn’t worried so much.

Shadow grinned. “It’s gotten way worse, I can barely hear anything.” he started. “That’s why I’m signing now, to get practice in just in case, and I can teach it to you later.”

_”Called it.”_

_”Shut up, Blue, you didn’t call anything.”_ Green hissed. _”If anything, Vio called it, and he didn’t even say it aloud.”_

“But, I don’t know sign, so how can I translate for you or anyone else if I don’t understand it?”

“I’ll still talk, dumbass, I’ll teach you later. I’m not THAT evil. There’s a book on sign language in the library we can get before breakfast, too. Oh, and I’ll need to learn to read and write as soon as possible, which you already agreed to help me with, so consider that as the price for me teaching you how to talk with your hands.” Shadow listed.

The two left Link’s room, heading towards the library in silence most of the way. “Can you still hear?” Shadow shrugged. ”How much? Can you hear?” Link asked

“Barely.” Shadow said bluntly, entering the library and immediately heading towards a shelf to the left, rooting through the stacks of books sitting unorganized on the wood, on the verge of falling over into a big mess.

 _”We need to reorganize this library.”_ Vio hissed.

 _”Yeah. Let’s do that after breakfast. Like, right after.”_ Blue agreed. Green, Red, and Link were all mildly shocked about the other two agreeing on something peacefully, but waved it off.

“Would it help if I gestured more?” Shadow nodded. “You can understand me still, right? Lip-reading?” Shadow nodded again and signed something, and even without the book, Link could take a pretty good guess at what he was saying just because he understood Shadow. He was definitely making fun of him, with that shit-eating grin.

“You want to hear a joke?” Shadow asked. Link nodded, not seeing how this had anything to do with what they were doing.

“Why do Keese count as pirates?” he asked.

“Why?” Link replied.

“Because they have one ‘aye!’”

Link thought for a moment. Blue got the multiple meanings first and made a strangled sound between a scream and a choke.

_"I'M GOING TO FUCKING MURDER HIM--"_

_"Blue, no!"_ Red cried. Link ignored them and gave his own answer aloud. “That is the worst joke I ever heard. I’m telling it to my dad later.” he said. Shadow grinned.

\---

“Link! Shadow!”

Shadow rolled his eyes, poking at his fruit, as Link perked up at the voice. Zelda walked towards the duo, sitting down across from them with her own breakfast and smiling. She wasn’t in her royal garb, as it was pretty early and she didn’t have any sorts of meetings until later that day. She only wore a simple blue dress and her hair was tied messily into a simple ponytail.

“Hi, Zelda!”

Shadow waved at her and continued stuffing his face with the egg salad that Link wouldn’t try if his life depended on it, but which Shadow apparently loved.

“How are you doing, Shadow?” she asked, turning to the other boy with a slightly strained smile.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. He then ignored her and continued eating.

“Uh, Shadow?”

“I don’t think he, uh, well, he… doesn’t like you much.” Link said awkwardly. Shadow snorted with laughter, accidentally choking on his water as he snorted it up his nose.

 _”Okay, he really doesn’t like her.”_ Red observed. _”This isn’t good.”_

Zelda frowned, giving Shadow a brief sad stare before turning back to Link. “Well, I suppose I could just talk to you.” she said, somewhat disappointed. She stabbed one of her apple slices with a fork a bit too harshly and shoved it in her mouth.

Link looked between Zelda and Shadow nervously. He’d been hoping they could at least try to get along, though… he might have been assuming a bit too much about their relationship beforehand. He knew that Zelda tried to get along with Shadow a couple times, but he didn’t know how or why she did, or what Shadow’s reaction was to the attempts.

 _”You were definitely jumping to conclusions.”_ Blue said. Green’s aura set off a warning flare again, signaling at him to knock it off.

“--down.”

Link forced his attention back to Zelda with a mild grimace. “Sorry, what was that?” he asked. Zelda gave him a small smile. She didn’t know why, but she still knew that Link spaced out a lot and he had a hard time paying attention for very long now.

“I said that the castle is on lockdown.” she repeated carefully. Link stared at her, his mouth dropping open.

“WHAT?” he yelled, his counterparts yelling similar responses in his head. Zelda sighed.

“Yes, it’s rather shocking, isn’t it?” she said. “I only just got notified this morning. The Blue Maiden will officially announce it, soon, but I thought I should tell you and Shadow before then.”

“Do you know why?” Shadow asked, and Link raised his eyebrows at him. He’d surprisingly been paying attention, which Link hadn’t expected with his attitude towards Zelda.

Zelda looked just as shocked, but quickly slipped a mask of politeness over her features. “Well, more monsters have started popping up everywhere, and that’s problem enough, and, uh, with you back, too, he, ah… doesn’t think it’s safe to let any of us out of the castle.” she said, struggling to find the right words. “Not that I agree with him! I don’t think the lockdown is at all necessary!”

“If you don’t agree, why not just, y’know, cancel the order and do what you think is best?” Shadow asked. Zelda blinked a few times. She had clearly been expecting him to snap at her for the implications that he was entirely untrustworthy. She put a finger to her lips in thought for a moment.

“Well, I’m not Queen yet, and my father’s will said that until I can officially become Queen, when I turn eighteen, then my head advisor will have most of the final say on things. I don’t like my head advisor now, at all, but I can’t do much about what he orders.” she said.

“That’s bullshit, don’t you have any power to fire someone? You’re the Princess, surely you have some power over who’s doing what.” Shadow said. Zelda and Link both just stared at him for a moment.

Why had they never thought about that?

“Oh! Yes!” Zelda said happily, clapping her hands together. Her mood had entirely changed. “I do have the power to fire him! It may take a while, because I have to find a new head advisor first, but it should only take a week at most!”

“Do that, then. Whoever you pick yourself will probably be better than the current head advisor, anyways.” Shadow mumbled. At the confused eyebrow raise from Zelda, he glared at her. “Look, I don’t like you, but I can tell you’re a good Princess, no matter how infuriating. I’m deaf, not blind.” he snapped. Zelda raised her hands in surrender.

\---

“You and Zelda should at least try to get along.” Link said as he and Shadow walked around the castle’s extravagant hallways.

Shadow scoffed, giving Link an ‘are you serious?’ look. “I don’t care how good your friendship is with her, I don’t like her and I’d rather not hang out with her if I don’t have to.” he said.

“Please, just try? You’re my best friend, Shadow, and Zelda is, too, I really want you guys to get along. You’re really similar!” Link pleaded. Shadow stopped walking, staring at him. His eyes flashed a few different colors and a strangled noise sounded in his throat.

“I’m your best friend?” he croaked out, clearly shocked.

 _”He’s your best friend?”_ Blue asked at the same time, also shocked.

“Yes!” _”Yes!”_ Link said, both to Shadow aloud and to Blue in his head.

“You barely know me, how do you--”

“I think I know you enough to know you’re my best friend.” Link said. He stepped back so he was still next to Shadow and ruffled his hair. Green felt a burst of happiness.

 _”He’s so tiny!”_ he cheered quietly. _”So small!”_

 _”We established this yesterday, Green.”_ Vio drawled. _”He’s short.”_

_”But, I keep forgetting how short! He’s so little!”_

_”Hylia…”_ Blue groaned. _”Mother Hen mode.”_

 _”Muh-buh-huh what mode?”_ Green asked with fake innocence, despite knowing full well what Blue said.

Shadow grinned. Link silently shushed Green and Blue before they could get into another argument, playful or not. “So, please, just… try to get along with Zelda?”

Shadow huffed, his smile fading a bit. “...Fine. But only because you won’t stop nagging me about it otherwise!”

“How do you know I’d--”

“I think I know you enough to know you’d nag me forever if I don’t try and get along with Zelda.” Shadow said, throwing Link’s own declaration back at him.

 _”Mother-FUCKER.”_ Blue hissed. _”He stole our line!”_

\---

Link was out training with the other Knights, and Shadow had decided to stay behind, so he was alone. He walked through the castle halls, hands in the pockets of his jacket. It was really cold, why didn’t the castle have any type of heater?

He occasionally past servants, maids, cooks, some Knights loitering about. Some of the Knights he’d seen the other night waved in greeting at him. Some servants gave him wary looks, but greeted him politely anyways. Most of them kept their distance, and one cook gave a nasty glare at him when they thought he wasn’t looking.

Everything was so… quiet. There wasn’t any background noise at all, and most greetings Shadow didn’t hear. He caught some stray words here and there, but that was it.

He was pretty used to it, but that didn't mean he was okay with it. He rather hated it, actually.

Maybe he would be lucky and he would just stay like this forever, barely anything but still something. The curse didn’t exactly have a defined stopping point, so Shadow had just assumed he’d just go completely deaf eventually, and that’s what he’d said, but maybe not.

Shadow eventually found himself in front of the large double doors that led to Princess Zelda’s quarters. He had completely annihilated this place thoroughly in the attack on the castle. They cleaned up nicely.

He should… probably apologize for being a piece of shit. Link had already told him to, but he really should. He wanted to at least try to get along with her.

He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry at the thought of talking to Zelda, who he barely knew and was a dick to, and she probably held a grudge--

Shadow lifted his hand and knocked on the door. Sure, he could just fade through using magic, but he wasn’t completely confident in his magic yet and wanted to be polite anyways.

_That’s a lie, you’re just nervous._

_…_

_You know what, fuck this!_

Shadow stepped back from the door after a few seconds of waiting, pretty convinced she wouldn’t answer, and was about to leave when the door opened. A man dressed in a terrible green suit with bright red hair and a stupid mustache stood in front of him.

The man glared at him. Shadow stood there awkwardly, not glaring back. He didn’t really feel like he should, no matter how much he instantly disliked this man.

_Since when are you polite to people you don’t like, you’re a demon!_

“---- -- --- ----?” the man asked. Nothing. Shadow could take a good guess, however. Shadow opened his mouth to reply.

 _”I wanted to see Princess Zelda?”_ he asked. The man just stared at him, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. It wasn’t a nice one.

_You didn’t say that out loud, idiot._

Shadow cleared his throat and tried again. “I, uh… is Princess Zelda here? I wanted to… talk to her?” he asked, making sure he felt each word in his throat as he spoke. He couldn’t hear himself and he didn’t want to be silent again by accident.

_You’re making a fool of yourself, stuttering idiot._

The man’s glare darkened. “You’re that demon Link forced the Princess to summon.” he sneered, though instead of stating it as a normal opinion, it was more accusatory.

_”Listen, buddy, I don’t want to be here either.”_

_Stop being so quiet and actually say something, dammit!_

“...Yes? Uh, can I please just talk to her for a minute? She said earlier that she wasn’t busy until later, so...” Shadow trailed off awkwardly. It was much harder to talk than it was before, what the fuck?

_Stop sounding so unsure of yourself, you stupid--_

“--- Princess doesn’t ---- time --- ------- whining -- --- about ----- ----- lives.” the head advisor sneered. He then slammed the door in his face with the same mocking grin as before.

While, normally, Shadow would probably kick the fucking door down and barge in anyway, he couldn’t gather up the courage to move from his spot. His feet were planted to the ground, glued there by an invisible force.

He felt amazingly guilty. _For what? Not speaking aloud, not standing his ground, not kicking that asshole’s teeth in--_

He shouldn’t be this upset.

…Maybe Link could help?

\---

“I am going to have that head advisor’s HEAD!” Link growled, tugging Shadow behind him with a tight grip on his friend’s wrist. “He isn’t allowed to do that, never mind being incredibly rude, I know for a fact that Zelda isn’t busy right now, he does most of her work now anyway, she can see you and he knows you aren’t dangerous--”

He was being too loud. Everything was clear, it was loud and Shadow’s hearing was a bit better at the moment, but it was just a bit too much. The villainous side of Shadow would have already ripped out his throat for being too loud, but thankfully that side had never existed in the first place, so all of Shadow was just… tired. Tired, and very nervous.

“Link, I can just try again later, it’s not that big of a deal and I really don’t mind.” Shadow said.

_Liar._

Link turned on him with an angry glare. Shadow had the urge to hide behind the nearest piece of furniture despite knowing very well that glare wasn’t directed at him in the least. “It really is that big a deal, Shadow, I’d be mad even if it was someone I didn’t know, the head advisor isn’t even allowed to turn people away from Zelda, and even if she was busy, she answers her door herself!”

And, without giving Shadow a chance to respond, he continued towards Zelda’s quarters.

_He gave you a chance to respond, you didn’t take it because he wouldn’t like it if you argued with him at all._

That didn’t make any sense, but Shadow took the voice’s word for it.

Link knocked harshly on Zelda’s door and waited, his hand still wrapped around Shadow’s wrist to keep him from leaving. He was about to knock again when the door opened, revealing the head advisor again. The head advisor looked up at Link, then to Shadow, and he sneered at him.

“That thing isn’t wel--”

He didn’t even get to finish before Link shoved him aside and dragged Shadow into the room. He led them both up the left staircase to Zelda’s bedroom, knocking gently on the door. The head advisor sputtered his protests behind them, quieting quickly when Zelda swung the door open, fully clothed in her nice pink dress Shadow remembered her wearing the other day.

“Oh, Link! Shadow!” she said with a smile. “Come in!”

>“Actually, only Shadow wants to see you. I’ll just be outside your door.” Link said calmly, a smile on his face that only barely hid the rage Shadow knew was there. Zelda probably noticed, too, and just nodded.

“Of course. Come on in, Shadow!” she stepped aside, letting Shadow into her room and shutting the door behind her. To Shadow’s confusion, she also locked it.

“Why did you--”

“I don’t want the head advisor barging in unannounced, that’s a bit of a problem.” Zelda said. She sat down on the edge of her bed and gestured towards the armchair near a giant mahogany bookshelf filled with books.

Shadow sat down somewhat hesitantly across from Zelda, feeling too informal. He was dressed too casually to be talking alone with the Princess, he wasn’t prepared at all, it just felt too stuffy in her room. His nails sharpened into claws, digging into the fabric of his pants. A slight sting of pain helped him focus.

“I, uh… wanted to apologize.” Shadow muttered. Zelda tilted her head at him.

“Yes?”

Shadow took a deep breath. He bit the inside of his cheek. This was way more nerve-wracking than anything ever was, even telling Vio about the Dark Mirror. “I-- yeah. I was a fucking dick to you, in the Tower of Winds, and I’m really sorry. You didn’t deserve that.” he mumbled.

Zelda sighed. “Link put you up to this, didn’t he?” she asked. Shadow shook his head quickly.

“No, no-- I mean, maybe-- yes-- but I mean it!” he stuttered. “I really am sorry, I was going to apologize eventually anyway, he just-- gave me a nudge?”

“He does that.” Zelda hummed, briefly glancing out her window at a passing bird. She turned back to Shadow, looking him up and down quickly before making eye contact. “I accept your apology, Shadow, and I believe I should apologize to you, as well. I was very… high-and-mighty, I suppose, and that was wrong of me.”

“Is this about the punch to the face, because I totally deserved that--”

“No! I mean, yes,it is, I’m so sorry, I have a bit of a temper, and-- I mean, you did kind of deserve it-- no, you didn’t-- well… I’m just sorry, I wasn’t as nice as I should have been, you just kind of made me uncomfortable in an already stressful situation--”

“Yeah, I had no idea how to talk to anyone, and I guess I went too far with the weird flirting, and that thing about your eyes that makes no sense--”

“You did, but it was kind of funny, looking back at it, and I was just as awkward with my attempted conversations, I mean, who chooses their childhood crushes for a first-conversation topic--”

They both stopped talking, realizing they were just talking over each other and saying they, themselves, were in the wrong, about something stupid and rather childish that had happened four years ago. The whole thing was, actually, much less important than either of them had thought at the time, there was a war going on during their arguments, even! They stared at each other with slightly shocked expressions, understanding dawning on them, before bursting into quiet laughter.

Zelda covered her mouth with her hands as she laughed, and Shadow ducked his head, giggling quietly to himself. They both quieted their laughter eventually, then they made eye contact. The two erupted into giggles again.

“Really, though…” Shadow finally managed to say. “I’m sorry for, you know, kidnapping you and holding you hostage and trying to talk to you with my nonexistant social skills.”

"I accept your apology, Shadow.” Zelda said, still laughing a little. “Was that all?”

“Uh…” Did Shadow really want to keep talking with her? He did, but did she? She might be lying and secretly hate him.

“If you’d like to, you can stay awhile and we can get to know each other!” Zelda said. “I can tell you’re a nice person, and Link is kind of my only friend and I… want more people to talk to.”

“Surely the Princess of Hyrule has many friends.” Shadow muttered, only have joking and probably sounding more bitter than he intended.

“...Not really, no.” Zelda said sadly, glancing out the window briefly. “Link’s my only friend. Of course, there are lots of people who try to be my friend, but most of them have ulterior motives in mind. I’m the Princess, it’s… much harder than you would expect for me to have a social life.”

“Huh.” Shadow said. He could somewhat relate. The reason he’d gotten so attached to Vio in the first place was because he didn’t have anyone else to talk to, despite being surrounded by other creatures of darkness.

And also because Vio was the coolest person Shadow had ever seen. Still was, really. Though, he didn’t have many other friends to compare that view with.

It wouldn’t be… so bad to have Zelda as a friend. She was really nice.

His grudge against her seemed so silly, now.

“Oh! We can play Icebreakers!” Zelda suggested, clapping her hands together. “I ask a question and you answer, then you ask a question that I answer, and it goes on and on like that until we’re done!”

“Okay… can I go first?” Shadow asked. It was pretty hard to keep up with her rapid talking, no matter how clearly she spoke, so he’d rather ask his question first.

“Sure!” Zelda said, spreading her arms out at her sides. “Ask away!” she folded her hands in her lap again, grinning widely at Shadow. She was… really happy.

“Do you know sign language?” Shadow asked. “It’s really hard to understand you, and, uh. Yeah.”

Zelda stared at him like he'd just turned into a dragon. “Of course I know sign language! Why didn’t you ask me before?”

“I kind of assumed you didn’t?”

“I can sign for you, if you want!” Zelda suggested. Shadow nodded. She held up her hands, signing with her words. “My turn, now--”

“Actually, it’s my turn again, you asked me why I didn’t ask you about sign language before.” Shadow said, signing as well. “Do you prefer being alone, or with people?”

“With people. I rather dislike being alone, actually, it’s… suffocating.”

Shadow couldn’t relate. He preferred being alone to being with people, being with others was more suffocating, to him.

“What place would you most like to visit?”

“Definitely Gerudo Village.” Shadow answered instantly. “Have you ever been to one of their festivals? It’s insane. There’s fire everywhere and their dances are practically impossible to do if you don’t know them like the back of your hand. and I snuck in to their summer festival once and got caught up in a shield-surfing contest that was so competitive I feared for my life.”

Zelda barked out a laugh, cackling. “I’m not allowed outside the castle, but I would love to go!”

Shadow filed that away in his mind for later. She deserved to leave the castle when she wanted.

“What’s your favorite thing to do?”

“Climb.” Zelda said. “I loved climbing the trees in the gardens, and the walls of the castle are rather easy to get up if you know how. The view from the roof of my bedroom is amazing, too!”

“Huh. Do you still--"

“Ah-ah, my turn!” Zelda laughed. “Do you play any instruments?”

“I play drums sometimes.” Shadow said after a moment. He almost never played drums, but when he did, he had a lot of fun, though he wasn’t the best. “Ocarina when I’m feeling really determined to fuck up someone else’s hearing.”

“I’m sure you’re good at the ocarina!” Zelda protested.

Shadow laughed. “I am, I just also like playing the most horrible sounds I can right in someone’s face and watch them die a little inside.” Shadow said with a shit-eating grin. Zelda’s smile matched his.

\---

“It wasn’t that bad, right?” Link asked. Shadow shook his head, still smiling.

“No, it wasn’t. Zelda’s great.” he said, his hair floating around a bit. “She knows sign, did you know that? She’s really good at it, too!” he was clearly excited about that fact, and Link hated to ruin his mood with the head advisor showing up, so he rushed both of them away quickly with a short goodbye to Zelda.

\---

Zelda had fired the head advisor an hour later. Link had told her after Shadow left about what the head advisor said to Shadow and how he refused to let them in despite knowing Zelda wasn’t busy, and lying to their faces about it. Zelda, being beyond enraged, fired him right then and there.

She, Shadow, and Link were currently in the throne room, discussing how to come about getting a new head advisor that Zelda actually approved of. It was mostly her and Link going back and forth and arguing about different already-important political figures from Castle Town, until Shadow spoke up.

“Why not just… travel around a bit and look for one personally?” he asked. He was sitting on the stairs in front of Zelda’s throne, currently trying to juggle balls of fire he conjured up and failing. “No one’s stopping you from leaving now, and you cancelled the lockdown already.”

“But, I have royal duties to take care of…” Zelda protested weakly. Shadow threw a ball of fire at her head that dissipated right before it hit her forehead. He signed something at her silently that Link only understood because he signed it to him a lot-- he called her stupid. Zelda signed right back at him, probably a different insult, and Shadow just waved it off.

“Yeah, yeah, anyway, just clear your schedule for, like, this weekend or something.” he said. “Better to find a head advisor you actually trust than to hire some random politician who seems nice and really isn’t.”

“I suppose so…” Zelda muttered. “I’ll ask the Maidens to clear my schedule for tomorrow, then, and you two can accompany me to find a new head advisor!”

\---

Shadow twirled the silver dagger in his hand absently as he stared out the window of the carriage. Zelda really was serious when she said both Shadow and Link were coming along with her. The two boys sat across from Zelda, who was going over a checklist with an excited gleam in her eye. They were going to Kakariko village first, as the Sheikah had a long history of protecting and advising the royal family. While Zelda and Link personally trusted the Sheikah not to backstab them, the Maidens all insisted Link and Shadow be Zelda’s bodyguards while they were there, ‘just in case.’

Because they were officially bodyguards for Zelda, Link said they should have weapons, so he made Shadow pick out something. He refused to have a sword, he didn’t even like using them, really. He just grabbed the first small weapon he found-- a silver dagger with red stones in the hilt and strange runes at the blade-- and called it a day.

The carriage stopped abruptly, and Shadow (not used to being in a carriage at all), jolted forward slightly from the sudden halt and dropped his dagger. He quickly picked it back up and shoved it back in its sheath, glaring at Link as the other laughed at him.

The two jumped out of the carriage, Link tripping from his lack of balance as Shadow landed gracefully with no falter in his step. Link took Zelda’s hand and helped her down as well, as Shadow gave him a knowing look.

“What?” Like asked. Shadow looked away.

“Oh, nothing!” he said. He swept his gaze around the village, at the old cottages and the lack of any paved roads or loud shopkeepers or wagons filled with goods like in Castle Town. It was simple, and completely deserted. It was very unnerving. There was a well in the center of the town, a few feet away, that Shadow instantly stepped back from.

“Don’t go near that.” he said, pointing at the well. Link raised his eyebrows at him but nodded.

“...Sure.” he replied, drawing out the word. He turned to Zelda, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet a bit. “So, where do we go?"

“That house, over there, see?” Zelda explained, pointing at a large house with a wooden gate. “A lady named Impa lives there, I was hoping to talk to her first.”

“Impa, hm?” Shadow muttered, still staring at the well. He didn’t attack Kakariko (that was a random army of Bokoblins, not him), so he didn’t know anything about it or its inhabitants. Link, however, did.

“Wait, you want Impa to be head advisor?” he asked, shocked. Zelda nodded. “But-- why?”

“She’s very capable, Link, whatever grudge against her you have can wait.”

“I don’t have a grudge against her…” Link mumbled, kicking a pebble across the ground as he followed Zelda to the house. “It’s her kid I don’t like.” he grabbed Shadow’s arm and tugged him along, away from the well. “Oi, Shadow, stop staring at the well.”

“It’s full of Re-Deads, Link.” he said, not pulling his arm away as Link continued to drag him to the house. “Hundreds of them.”

Then we won’t go near it.” Zelda said. Shadow mumbled some colorful insults about Re-Deads in general, but didn’t mention the well after that.

“Why do you hate Re-Deads? I thought you worked fine with most of the monsters during the attack on Hyrule.” Link asked. Shadow laughed.

“Absolutely not. I hate Re-Deads, they’re idiots that shuffle about and moan on and on about their regrets in life, and then they drain your soul and kill you whether you’re on their side or not. They’re about ten times dumber than red Bokoblins, and that’s saying something. They’re so annoying.” he said, though his left eye twitched a bit like Valensuela’s did when he was lying.

Zelda knocked on the door to the big house, and the trio didn’t have to wait long before a boy just barely taller than Shadow opened the door a crack and stared at them. His hair was white, and covered one of his eyes. The visible eye glowed red. His thick scarf also covered his chin, and he had a mask the same color that covered his nose and mouth. He wore traditional Sheikah warrior armor with a blue jacket over it.

“Hello. We’re here to see Lady Impa.” Zelda said. The boy nodded at her, then stared at Shadow, looking him up and down briefly before full-on glaring at Link, who glared right back.

“Sheik.”

“Link.”

The two kept glaring at each other for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Shadow eventually grabbed Link’s shoulder and tugged him back, stepping between them and giving a strained smile at Sheik. “Okay, great Din… you two… calm down. Please. Can we see Impa now?” he asked. Sheik raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed at his attempt to cool the situation, but nodded.

“Sure.” he stepped aside, letting them enter the house that was definitely smaller on the inside than the outside. It was tiny. There was an open doorway leading to a library, bookcases filled with different scrolls and books. A lady dressed in similar armor to Sheik’s stood there, her white hair tied in a tight braid and her red eyes bright and calculating. She was flipping through a small leather-bound book, but looked up at them when Sheik coughed to get her attention.

“Ah, hello, Princess.” she said, closing the book and setting it down before walking over and holding out a hand for Zelda to shake. Shadow stared up at her, feeling like a small child. And he thought Link was tall, Impa was the height of the average Gerudo-- wasn’t that, what, eight feet or something? Huge for a Hylian, or a Sheikah.

Zelda shook Impa’s hand, smiling up at her. “Hello, Impa. It’s nice to see you again, it’s been awhile.”

“No kidding.” Link muttered, still exchanging glares with Sheik from across the room. Shadow looked between them, getting more and more amused as they kept at it and grinning widely at them.

“Princess, I heard you were going to talk to me about possibly taking the open position of head advisor?” Impa asked. Zelda nodded.

“Yes, we had some problems with the old one, he wouldn’t consult me at all before passing orders, and was rather rude to practically everyone, insulting my friend was the final straw and I had to fire him. I hope you won’t make the same mistakes if you accept the position?” she explained. Impa smiled at her.

“Of course not, Princess. I will happily accept the job. The Sheikah tribe, my family specifically, has always served the Royal Family, and I would love to continue to do so.” she said. Zelda grinned wider and flashed her smile at Shadow, subtly signing, _’I told you so.’_

Shadow handed her twenty rupee notes, barely resisting the urge to flip her off. Never bet against Zelda and contenders for a job position. He had thought Impa would refuse, since Sheikahs were usually distrustful of the Royal Family nowadays. Zelda had insisted she would accept since she might still be one of the Sheikah loyal to the Family.

“Do you know what the position entails?”

“Yes, I was reading up on it before you arrived. I assume I will move to the castle?”

“That is correct.”

"Is it alright if Sheik comes along, as well? I won’t leave my nephew behind.”

“No!”

“Of course!”

Link and Zelda both spoke at the same time. Shadow punched Link in the back. “Ow! What?” he yelped, jumping away from Shadow with a glare.

“You don’t have the authority to refuse that request and you know it, why don’t you want him to come along, anyways?” Shadow hissed.

“He’s a fucking bitch, that’s why!” Link hissed back, pointing at Sheik.

Sheik bristled, clenching his fists. “YOU’RE THE ONE WHO--”

“Hylia, will you two just make up already? It’s been three years!” Zelda cried. Three years? What the fuck happened? Zelda took a deep breath and gave a strained smile towards Impa again. “Of course Sheik can come along, as well, now, if you two would rather leave now, then I can send some servants to pack up your things and bring them later--”

“I could just… teleport their stuff.” Shadow suggested.

“You can do that?” Link asked, staring at Shadow as if he’d just said he was a silver Lynel with butterfly wings.

“I mean, not actually teleport. You know how adventure pouches work?” Shadow asked. Link nodded. “With the pocket dimension, I’ve got one of those but with infinite space and only accessible with my magic, I can send all their stuff there and dump it back out later at the castle.”

“That would save work.” Zelda said. “Alright, this is reliable?”

"I stuffed Vio in there once and he was fine, so yeah.”

Link blinked at him multiple times before starting to stare off into space, his eyes dimming. Vio was probably telling him exactly why Shadow stuffed him into a pocket dimension.

“...Who’s Vio?” Sheik asked. Shadow tensed up, not wanting to talk about it and, thankfully, Link chose that moment to come back to reality and answer for him.

“One of the four versions of me that appeared when I pulled the Four Sword. He wore purple so we called him Vio. Shadow was friends with him for a while, then, uh.”

“That… ended poorly. I once put Vio in my pocket dimension because you can’t actually teleport two people and it would have taken forever to get back to the Fire Temple on foot. He was mad at me for a while.” Shadow said.

“THAT’S how you got there so fast!”

“How did you not guess that? I was an all-powerful shadow-demon reverse-image of you, of COURSE I could teleport.” Shadow snapped his fingers a few times. “Alright, then, get all your stuff down here and I’ll put it all away until we’re at the castle!” he said, grinning widely and clearly excited at the chance to use his pocket dimension that… may or may not have a few piles of monster guts in it from when he got upset and killed an entire army of Bokoblins during the war.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: The head advisor is based off of Chancellor Cole from Spirit Tracks because I fucking love that game and Cole should have been fired long ago for his attitude but that didn't happen.
> 
> ADDITIONAL quick note: Shadow and Zelda are not suddenly Best Friends, they still have a lot of baggage and complicated feelings they need to get through. This is the same as Shadow and Link, but to a much larger scale, because while Link worked through all his feelings for Shadow after the years Shadow was gone, Shadow knows this, and doesn't have a lot of complicated emotions for Link anyway. Zelda, on the other hand, tends to hold on to things longer than she probably should, and her and Shadow's interactions in canon are VERY complicated and while their currently resolved 'main' problem was Shadow's weird flirting attempts and Zelda slapping him across the face, that is DEFINITELY not all. So, no, their relationship isn't progressing too fast at all, if anything, it's going too slowly.
> 
> My Tumblr is @singingvio, and I run an incorrect quotes blog too at @four-swords-incorrect!
> 
> This fic now has an ask blog on Tumblr at @ask-brokenheartbrokenmind, go check it out!


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